As the holiday season draws near, most videogames-interested media entities, from gaming magazines to sites, tend to get ready to announce the awards for 2008 for the games they consider the best of their categories for the year that is coming close to an end. Spike TV, the cable network channel that offers substantial space to gaming related news, has announced that its Video Game Awards, which have reached the sixth edition, will be airing on December 14. A list of nominees has also been published.

The big potential winner of the night is Grand Theft Auto IV, the Rockstar developed and Take Two published open world game, which has the most nominations – nine of them. The runner-ups are LittleBigPlanet from Media Molecule, Fallout 3 from Bethesda, and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots from Konami, which all have 7 nominations.

Even if it was only recently released, Gears of War 2 managed to get 4 nominations. The above five games are fighting for the Games of the Year award, which is probably the most awaited announcement of the night.

Left 4 Dead, Spore, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, and Crysis Warhead are all in the running for the Best PC Game Award, while Best Shooter is a competition between Resistance 2, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead and Gears of War 2. Call of Duty: World at War, Resistance 2, Gears of War 2, and Left 4 Dead are all in the race for Best Multiplayer Game.

Other nominations include categories such as Best Developer, Best Performance by a Male, Best Performance by a Female, Best Music Game, and Best Driving Game. A complete list of the nominations for the VGA is available on the Spike website.

At the VGA ceremony, Will Wright is to get a Gamer God Award, while 50 Cent will perform.